Cop handling mechanism



July 2l, 1953 Filed sept. 28, 1949 J. G. GAMBLE 2,646,226

ATToe/VEV COP HANDLING MECHANISM Filed Sept. 28, 1949 v'7' Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG2.

l lvgENroR. BY y Lf; ATTaQ/vfy July 21, 1953 J. G. GAMBLE 2,645,226

COP HANDLING MECHANISM Filed Sept. 28, 1949 7 Sheets-Sheet 5 July 21, 1953 J. s. GAMBLE 2,646,226

COP HANDLING MECHANISM Filed Sept. 28, 1949 f 7 Sheets-Sheet 4 J. G. GAMBLE COP HANDLING MECHANISM July 21, 1953 7 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Sept. 28, 1949 b Arroz/vfy July 21, 1953 J. G. GAMBLE: 2,646,226

coP HANDLING MECHANISM 'Filed Sept. 28, 1949 7 Sheets-Sheet 6 MNHHNIIPHMMIIIWIIUMMT FIGS.

322. BY M75- I fATTo/PNEY July 21, 1953 J. G. GAMBLE COP HANDLING MECHANISM 7 Shee'gs-Sheet '7 ATTORNEY Filed Sept. 28, 1949 sense.

the form of pockets. y vleither openbottoms, in which case stationary Patented July A21,Y 1953 COP HANDLING MECHANISM James G. Gamble, Northbridge, Mass., assigner to Paul Whitin Manufacturing' C0., Northbridge, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Application september 28, 1949, serial N. 118,259

This handling copsy dischargedfrom winders. term cop is used herein in a generic sense, 1. e.

9 Claims. (craie-35.5)

invention relates to mechanism for The f as including cops, cones, bobbins, etc., in ygeneraly all kinds of yarn packages. Also for conciseness the Word Winder is used herein in a generic '1t ,is charged from winders in boxes placed below the Winder heads, and by hand transfer thecops from the boxes to racks on which they are held out of 'n contact with yeach other Aand carried to the next operating station. The h'aphazard falling of the cops onto each other in the boxes however, entails a material amount' of damage, especially whenl they are 'filled with a delicate yarn such as rayon r This not only 'causes Waste of material, but also both the handing of the cops vbetween the boxes and the racks and the separaty ing of the damaged material from' the good consumes considerable of the operatives time.

Y Various expedients have been proposed to avoid these faults. The present. invention avoids them or glass 'for example.

by providing for 'the'v direct transfer of the cops from the winders to the racks, and in such a manner that damage during the transfer is substantially'elirninated. n

T0 this end,rin its mostvcomplete form, the invention provides, briefly, a conveyor togtake the cops' at the point or points Where they are devlivered and transport them to astationor st a-y tions Where at least one rachis located, mechanism to direct each 'cop as it Varrives at this station to :an empty space on the rack (i. e. to an empty pin or an empty pocket, depending Von the nature of the rack), a magazine for empty racks, Yand mechanism to replace filled racks by empty racks taken from the'magazine. Preferably the conveyor is of the endless chainV type, say, extending along and receiving cops vvfrom a Whole bank 'of winding heads, and has individual car- :riers for the' cops. Preferably these carriers' have The pockets may have rails against which the, say; butt ends of the cops slide, can be employed t0 prevent premature escape of the cops from the pockets,l or have mov :able bottoms which open to release the cops at 'the proper times. Preferably the'l conveyor runs 'above the rack so that Ythe cops can be carried from the conveyor to the'rack by gravity. Es-

'pecially in such cases the mechanism which' directs the cops fromy the lconveyor to the rack 'and thus assures that a cop from the .conveyor will pass to only a Vacant space of the rack, may comprise, and preferably is, a set of shutters disposed Vcommon practice to collect cops disof the rack. However the reverse of this shutter ,operation is an alternative, and also the transfer of the shutters from the rack Vstation to the cop carriers on the conveyor as it were (efg. providing each carrier with aremovable bottom) is another alternative. The arrangementmay'be such that the delivery of cops is restricted to the spaces of a single row of the cop-spaces of a rack as it were, and the rack, advanced to bringv a new row to this delivery position Yeachtime the filling of a row is completed, thereby bringing the rows of therack'to delivery position successively. The

magazine may carry the stock of empty racks superposed one above anothenand'above the carrier of that rack which,-at the moment, is at or passing through the delivery position, so that the replacement of a filled rack by an empty one is accomplished readily. l

The foregoing and other matters of the invention are illustrated by the preferred form of the Vinvention which is shown in the 'accompanying drawings. Fig. l is a front elevation of a portion of a multiple-head vcop winderand of a corresponding part of the cop handling mechanism of the present invention which serves this Winder.

Fig. 2 is av plan vieW of the mechanism of Fig. 1. Fig. '3- is a vertical section about on the line IIL-III of Fig. 1, drawn to a larger scale. Fig. 4, drawn toa still larger scale, is an elevation, partly in sectionof certain details of the mechanism of Fig. '3. Fig. 5 is a View similar to that of Fig'. 3 but with the movable partsin the positions which vthey occupy just about as a cop is to esl cape to the conveyor from the delivery part of a windinghead. ,.Fig. 6 showsl some of vthe parts of Fig. 5 just about as'the cop has enteredthe conveyor.l Fig. 7 is a plan view of the rack' carrier, the mechanism for directing cops from the conveyor to empty spaces on the receivingracl, and of the rack magazine. Fig. 8 is a'detail of certain parts of the mechanism shown in Fig. 7.

Fig. 9 is -a side elevation of the mechanism of Fig.

" 7, the load of racks being omitted from the magaabove the cop-holding-spaces of the rack, or above a groupY of those spaces, and arranged initially to prevent the vpassage of cops Yfrom the conveyor to the rack, but which open one at a time to vpermit the passage vQI 'COPS to ,Successive "copwpaces' Zine. Fig. lOis a partial vertical section'on the line X-X of'Fig. 9, but showing a rack and some flle'd cops at the'rece'iving station. Fig. 11 is an elevation of the mechanism of'Fig. 7 showing the side oppositethat Yshown in Fig. 9. Fig. 12 is a vertical section about on the line XII-XII of Fig. 11, showing/additional parts ofthe rack replenishi-ngm'eehanism- Various parts 'of themachine have been-omitted from the drawings for clarity of illustration aswill be understood, `some not important to the invention and some not important to the particular' figures vfrom which -omitted The Icop Winder shown inthe drawingi's con- -Ventional. 'It has a frame I0 which supprts a 4number of -winding headsV I`|.` These winding heads are dirven by a .power shaft I2, common to thejm a-ll, through pairs of frictionally engaged tion. At each winding head a lever I'I having a downwardly projecting end piece or head Ila prevents ycops from leaving the chute of the respective winding head when the lever is in its Fig. 3 position, while a lever I8, which is `connected -by an eccentric pin and slot to a control shaft I9 of the winding head, serves to raise the lever I'I to remove its restraint on the discharge of cops, Fig. 5, at appropriate times as determined by the control shaft.

Inasmuch as winders like that shown are well known, including their internal mechanisms, the foregoing will suffice for the present purposes.

Several brackets 20, fastened to the frame I0, Fig. 3, support a pair of rails 2| which extend lengthwise of the Winder below the heads and carry an endless chain 22; at one end of the rails, the chain is mounted on a sprocket 22a, Fig. 7, and at the opposite end on -a similar sprocket, not shown; both sprockets are mounted on vertically extending axes and one of them is driven by power shaft I2. The manner in which the chain 22 is driven can be explained better later on in this specification. A plurality of cop carriers 23, Fig. l, are pivotally secured at spaced intervals to the chain 22 by horizontally extending pivots 23a, Fig. 3. may have substantially the form of a tube, or upwardly open trough, or part one and part the other, and may be open at both its upper and its lower end. Inside each carrier a tongue 24 extends lengthwise of the carrier and is pivoted atits upper end to the carrier, Fig. 3, to serve as a feeler and register the presence or absence of a cop on the carrier. A spring 25 maintains each feeler tongue 24 projecting well into its carrier, as it were, when there is no cop in the carrier, Fig. 3 (cf. Fig. 6), in which position an upper end or extension piece 26 of the tongue is held in lowered position and its lower end or projecting'part 2'I is held in a raised position, Fig. 3. On the other hand, when a carrier receives a cop from one of the Winder chutes, the cop comes to rest on its feeler 24 and overcomes the pull of its spring 25, and thereby the feeler is swung to its operative position, Fig. v6, i. e. to a position where its upper end or extension piece 26 is held raised and its lower end or projection 2'I is held depressed. Preferably a rail 28 is secured by longitudinally adjustable bolts 29 to the brackets 2D parallel to each of the chain rails 2|, and in such relation to the rails that the outer portions of the hinged carriers rest thereonV and thereby are held at an yangle to the vertical except adjacent the rack station, Fig. 3 and Fig. l. At least when the lower ends of the carriers are open, a stop rail 30 also is fastened to brackets 2li; it extends along the front of the machine to prevent the cops from falling out of the cop carriers through their open bottom ends until they approach the receiving position of the racks, Fig. l.

In addition to the lever I'I and lever head I la, each chute I3 is provided with a gate 3|, pivoted at 32, between its openlower end and the head I'Ia of its adjacent lever I'I, Figs. 3, 5 and 6. In order for a cop to escape from a chute therefore, its lever head I'Ia must be raised, Fig. 5, and also the gate 3| free to open, Fig. 6. As before pointed out the position of the head Ila Each of these cop carriers Y is controlled by its control shaft I9 `and yaccordingly is controlled in relation to the operations of its winding head. When lowered each lever head IIa holds the adjacent gate closed, acting on cams 3Ia on the gates (Figs. 6 and 3), and when its head I'Ia is raised, each gate 3I is freed to open to permit the esc-ape of a cop in its chute by the action of the lfeeler 24 of the next empty cop carrier to come to it. To this end a vertically extending rod 33 is mounted slidably in a bracket 34 attached to the lower end of each chute I3, Figs. 4 and 6. The upper end of each of these rods 33 is formed as a hook 35 which projects above and across the adjacent lever II. Also a plate 37 carrying a vertical post 38 is secured to the rails 2I below each chute I3 and a sleeve 39 is mounted both slidably and rotatably on each post 3S. Member 36, fastened to yadjacent rods 33 and extending below each sleeve, serves to slide the sleeves 39 upwardly on their posts whenever their respective rods 33 are raised by the respective levers II. A nger 49 is mounted on each sleeve 39 in position for engagement with the adjacent gate 3| to hold this gate in closed position normally (Figs. 3 and 4). Also an arm 4I is mounted on each sleeve 39 in such a position as to be below the path of the feeler extensions 26 when the latter are in their low positions and its sleeve is lowered (Fig. 3), but to be in the path of the lowered extensions 26 (Fig. 5) but still below the path of raised extensions (Fig. 6) when its sleeve is raised. Each sleeve 39, its linger 4I! and arm 4I thus constitutes a latch for the adjacent gate 3l. Accordingly whenever an empty cop carrier comes to a chute I3 whereat the lever I'I is raised, as it will be whenever there is a cop in the chute, the tongue extension piece 26 of that carrier engages the adjacent arm 4I and swings this armV and thereby its sleeve 39 with the latch 4U, thereby removing latch 40 from engagement with gate 3I. The cop in the chute, by its weight then forces thev gate 3I open and slides into the empty cop carrier. As the cop enters the carrier it depresses the lower end of tongue 24 of that carrier. Depression of the tongue 24 raises its extension piece 26 to its inoperative position where it passes above any other arms 4I it may come to, regardless of whether these are in their raised or lowered positions, Fig. 6. Sometime before another cop is delivered to the chute I3 from which a cop has thus been taken, the related lever I'I is returned to its original operative position by its control shaft I9, and thereby the head or nger I'Ia is caused to lclose the gate 3I, for this purpose running onto a cam 3 Ia, Fig. 6, attached to the gate. Just as the raising of the lever I'I raised' the adjacent arm 4I into the path of lowered feeler extensions 26, just so the lowering of each lever I'I permits its adjacent arm 4I to fall again below the path of these extensions. Accordingly lowering a lever I'I permits a leaf spring 42 to rotate the related latch 40 and arm 4I to their original positions wherein the latch 40 again holds its gate 3I closed. The backward rotation is stopped at the proper point by an arm 39 on sleeve 39 engaging a stop member 36 on the sleeve lifter 36. As an incident to the depression of a tongue or feeler 24, its .pin 2'I is moved ydownwardly also of course. The purpose of this is described later.

At the cop-delivery position or station, i. e. the station at which the containers 23 of the conveyor deliver their cops to the racks, a frame 50 having a platform 5I and'side rails 52 and fatta-ttt 5 53 v to Yguide andpe'nterthe racks on the' platform, serves as a support forthe receiving racks, one by one. In the present instance -the 'cops I4 have Vlongitudinal holes or recesses at their bases vwhereby they can be set onto'pins, and accordingly each of the racks consists primarily of a flat member 54 such as a board, and a number of pins 54a projecting from this base member, arranged ,in rows lengthwise and transversely of the base memberv '54, and each `is adapted to receive 'a cop and hold it out 'of contact with its neighbors.' rllhe conveyorrails 2| and the conveyor extend not only along 'the array of winding heads Il but'jalso toone end space between the guide rails 52 and 53 and suspends a partition 55 at each side of each f' .cop-pin 54a at the cop-receiving position. The

partitions 56 guide the cops in their descent from the conveyor containers tothe pins 54d'. Above each guideway, formed 'by the partitions 56, except the onev at the extreme right,jr(the*'- movement of the carriers is'from left to right as viewed in Figs.` l, Z-and- '7) is aflat vplatelike shutter 5'! slidable horizontally on guides in a transverse member 58 of bracket `55 from 'I a position where the shuttercovers its guide-` Way to Va position where its guideway is unf covered, Figs. 2 andg'l.' In eiect, these shutters especially selectwparticular cops in the copcarriers of the conveyor for particular empty spaces Von the racks Aand ydirect the p cops Ato y empty spaces. Ajbump'er 5Bpat the forward end of each shutter 5" limits the backward move-v V-passes the lever l'il turnsshaft '70 fonct-olgturn the shaft at all.

pin 'I2 to the right ofc'it. lTo rotate ,the"sha`ft 10 a bevel gear 13 is fixed to shaft/'10 and mesh'ed with another' bevel gear 'i4 which 'is loose on a stub shaft 'I5 (Fig. '7). A ratchet wheel 76 is secured to the gear 14 (Fig. '7), land. on' shaftA 75 is providedI a'lever 17 carryingla pawl 'I8 to turn the ratchet wheel 16 and therewith the bevel gear 73. Aspringj'li)`v attached at one end to thetlowe'r end^ofy lever. Tland its opposite end secured to frame 55, urges the lever 17 in clockwise direction as viewedinfFig. 8, or its top end tothe right in Fig. 7. A stop member 77a., Fig. 8, prevents the'lever from movement yin this direction beyond the position which it occupies in Fig. 8.' A pawl 80, 'pivoted at 85a. and urged to swing "against"the top end of the'lever 'Il projects into the path of the feeler pins 27 'of such of' those cop"-"cafrr rs 23 as may 'be' carrying cops` at any time and thereby` each carrier'f23 carrying acof hat .fihi of a full rotation whileempty carriers do Enot Further', initially the shaft lil is so setangularly that when a"'ne`\'v row of cop-pins. on a rack is Y`*brought*tov oop?. receiving position, i."e.- to' the gnidewaysf be tween seth@ pin '12 of the'orst shutter; Sifat ment of of the shutter by striking the bracket member 58.

way-uncovered position. `I -atches SB, independently Ahinged on a cross barY 55 (Figs. '7 and 11), have hooked ends 61 to engage the rear ends of the shutters to hold the shutters against the pull of the springs. projecting armi sojplaced that lifting its arm 8| lifts the hookedend @Tof the latch and thereby frees its shutter "5i for movement by Springs 60, one for each shutter 51, urge the shutters'to their rearward orguide-i Also each latch 66 has a' the shutter spring 55' to guidewayauncovering position', Fig. ll. A Beat-the proper times, a' shaft 15j is provided, and keyed to this 'a number of discs 174, one forV each latch 66, and eachhaving an.' eccentrically positioned pin i2 so set as "tc strike and lift one of the arms 3i of the latches as the shaft 'I0 is rotated (e.)g; rotate`d clockwise `in Fig. l1). In Fig. 1l, one ofthe pins 'l2 has raised its latch 55 recently, andits associated shutter has beeny pulled to its position where itsfguideway between two partitions 5 6 'ish u ricovered,4

and further rotation of the'shaft 70' has carried To thusA release the latches s the right of Fig 'lisA displaced one-eighth'bf a circumference .(45) from its leverfarmj.

Still further, the leverl'l isvso placedfthaltjthe distance between and the iirst 'cop-pintor any row (the one 'at' the right in Fig. "7) 'is vatleast equal tothe distance betweenftwoadjacent cop carriers 23 of the conveyor. As a'resultiof construction and arrangement, whenHajnew/r'ow of cop pins is brought to cop-receivinvgposition, the first carrier 23 containinga vcop that pas-ses lever il, makes shaft l5 ready to release first shutter when the second cop-containing carrier 23 passes the lever, but allthe shutters remain in guideway-covering position until vthe first cop-containing carrier reaches the V ii'rst guideway (at the right in Fig. '7),and lperhaps a little longer. Somewhat similarly, the second copopens the first shutter for itself, j th'ethirid this pin 12 beyondits arml so. thatthe latch has fallen back onto the shutterflf" successively rthe pins 72 are displaced from each otheranguy larly around the shaftV 'IQsoas ltoreleasethe latches E6 successively.; to this end,`since th'ere y are eight guideways `formed by the'` partitions 156 and the lling of each row of cop pins. begins cop opens the'second shutter, andso on,l

At the windingheads the cop carriers 'E'.i'are held in an angular position by the iront rail 28 in order to be well positioned vto receive cops 'from the chutes I3, Fig. 3, and also by arailfil,l at .the rear, say. for constructional. reasons. Between the end of the bank of winding heads ,ama-fthe positionfor the cop-.receiving racks, thefrontjrail iis bent, as it were, to a kposition beneaththe adjacent conveyor track 2i', Fig. 2,A and in such relation to thisv track maybe continued ,'a'crosstlie rack position or be replacedby anothernalllil at the right in Fig. '7 in thev` instance illustrated, v

-each pin 12, beginning with the second 'from the right in Fig. '7, isset' back'of ,the pin ahead of it one-eighth of a circumference;- e. g. in

the present instance Where the shaft T5 rotates clockwise in Fig. 11, each pin l2 is displaced 45 in the counterclockwisefdirection from the substantially below this track, Figs. .1;2s and" 1 '1. This 'change in the rail 28 allows the copcarriers 23 to swing from their angular positions atfthe chutes to vertical positions, and inthefvertieal positions the carriers'are' carriedjacro'ssthe receiving` rack. About at the place,where the carriers become vertical. the stop'rail 30 ends, and is replaced .by a horizontal shelfSZ which extends to and is disposed at the same level as vthe row .of shutters 57. This shelf therefore retains the cops in those carriers 2s that have tops,'uti1 the row of shutters is reached; As the carriers pass above -the shutters 51 these shutters (speaking Vgenerally)4 act as a wall to confine the cop in any carrier that has a cop until that carrier reaches a guideway between two of the partitions 56 that is not covered by a shutter 51. When this occurs the cop in that carrier slides out of the carrier by gravity, passes down the guideway and cornes to rest on one of the cop-carrying pins 54a of the rack which happens to be in cop receiving position at the time.

` As each row of pins 54a of a rack is lled in the present instance, the rack is moved Vforward to bring the next row of pins to cop-receiving position, e. g. underneath the row of shutters. Such filling of a rack, i. e. one row at a time and advancing the rack to bring successive rows to the apparatus delivering the cops to the racks, is the preferred form of operation, but is not wholly essential as will be apparent. The advancement Aof a rack row by row is brought about by a feeler that is located at or adjacent'the position occupied by the last pin 54a of each row to receive a cop, so that this feeler will be encountered by those cops that complete the filling of the rows. In the machine illustrated a latch rod |05, pivothorizontally at and movable in a vertical plane in guide |02, carries a finger |03 which constitutes the feeler. This nger or feeler |533 is located rather close to the position occupied suc cessively by that cop-receiving pin 53a of Aeach Yrow which is the last of its row to receive a cop,

e. g. underneath the left-hand shutter 51, Fig. "I,

|00 on its pivot, clockwise in Fig. 9. A weight |00a or the like can be used if necessary to hol-:l

the feeler |03 elevated except when a cop rests on it. The opposite end of rod |00 has a hook |05 which while the feeler |03 is in its upper position, engages a bracket |06 fastened to a plunger I fl'i which is slidable in bearings |08 on frame 50 and which carries a downwardly extending pawl or lever |09 pivoted at its upper end to the plunger |01. A spring tends to thrust the plunger |01 to the left in Fig. 9. Normally this ymovement is prevented by the hook |35. The pawl or lever |09 can swing freely in one direction -on 01, e. g. counterclockwise in Fig. 9, at least through a substantial arc, but is prevented from moving beyondV a certain position in the opposite direction, e. g. beyond the downward position clockwise in 9. A transverse shaft ||2, mounted in bearings on frame 50, has secured to it a pulley or sprocket I|3 which has a plurality of equally spaced pins ||3a projecting sidewardly from the pull-ey or sprocket and the pulley or sprocket is so placed that one end of the lever or pawl |09 proiects into the spaces between adjacent pins. Another shaft ||4, at one end of the frame 50, carries a second pulley or sprocket H5, and a belt H3 connects the pulleys or sprockets ||3 and ||5. An idler ||1 holds the belt ||6 under tension. A second belt is mounted on another pulley or sprocket |2| fixed to shaft ||4, and an additional pulley or sprocket |22 which is xed to a shaft |23 at the opposite end of the frame 50. The upper run of this belt |20 lies in a recess |25 in platform 5| and a series of fingers |24, secured to this chain |20 at spaced intervals corresponding to the length of a rack, projects upwardly from the upper run so that as the belt |20 is advanced (to the right in Fig. 9, downwardly in Fig. 7), any finger |24 that maybe directly back of any rack`54 which at the moment is beneath the row of shutters 51, can engage that rack and advance it with the belt |20. The purpose of the plunger |31 and this apparatus associated with it isto advance belt |20 a distance equal to the distance, center to center, from one transverse row of cop-receiving pins 54a to the next, whenever the lling of a row of these pins with cops is completed. The power for this comes from the shaft |30. This shaft |30 is supported in bearings secured to frames I0 and 50 and is oscillated continually by the main power shaft |2 of the machine. To this end it is provided with an arm |3| which is connected by a link |32 to a crank pin on the last of a train of reduction gears g, the rst of which is on the shaft |2 (Figs. 1 and 2). A downwardly yextending arm |33 is secured to the shaft |30 to oscillate therewith, and oscillate in the path of movement of the plunger |01. The range of movement of the oscillating arm |33 willbe understood from the description of the operation which follows. Y

As a row of pins 54a is being filled, the feeler |03 stands elevated and the rod hook |05 prevents the plunger |01 being moved, by its spring to the left beyond its position in Fig. 9.v Accordingly the oscillatingv arm |33 oscillates without effect except perhaps to displace the plunger |01 slightly on each stroke. As ultimately a cop falls onto the last pin 54a of Va row however, this cop strikes and depresses the lfeeler finger |03, thereby raising hook |05 and permitting the plunger |91 to move to the left until it strikes the oscillating arm |33. As the plunger moves to the left with the oscillating arm |33, the'pivoted arm |09 of the plunger moves to the left of the sprocket or pulley pin |311 which is to the left of the pin |30, with which |09 is shown engaged in Fig. 9, and then as the oscillating arm |33 swings to the right again and thereby thrusts the plunger to the right in Fig. 9, the pivoted plunger arm |99 turns the pulley I3 a part turn, this turns shaft i iii a part turn, and this advances the belt |29 a step (to the right in Fig. 9, downwardly in Fig. 7). The extents of the various movements are such that the belt |20 advances a distance equal tothe distance between adjacent transverse rows of the cop pins 54a, center to center. Accordingly the block or linger |24 that is back of the rack that is below the shutters 51, advances the rack a similar distance and thus brings a new row lof pins to the cop-receiving position. Also this advance of the rack relieves the feeler nger |03 of the cop that .was resting on it and thus permits the hook |55 to seize on the bracket |65 .of the plunger and thus stop the further advance of the beltand rack' until the new row of pins 54a is filled. When this happens the rack will be advanced again of c-ourse, a similar distance.

Asa rack is advanced to bring a new row of pins 54a to cop-receiving position, the' shutters 51 are returned Yto their positions above the guideways formed by the partitions 56. The mechanism presently used for this purpose is shown best in Figs. 7, 9 and 11. It includes a cross bar |40 which is slidablymounted on two rods |4| and |42 in such a position that when moved forwardly (to the left in Fig. 11) it will strike the sliding shutters 51 and shove them to their positions above the guideways Where they will be held by the hooks or latches 63 as before described. The rods 54|' and |45 are car ried in brackets |43 and |44 fastened to the bracket 55 and their rear ends are connected by I a stationarycross'bar-|45V for rigidity. At a lower levela shaft` |46Y vis-rotatably supported in brackets |41' whichare-mounted on the' frame 50,' and carries'two arms |48 and '|49 which are'pivotallyfconnected to the'end's'of .bar |45 (loosely if necessary-as will be apparent), and also has an :arm |59 which is provided'with a cam follower ISI `to bear on a cam |52; a weight return the cross bar to its initial position, Fig.

l1. ,In the machine illustrated, the cam |52 is so made, for convenience, that a single rotation of it causes the cross bar` |40 to act twice. To rotate it, the cam is xed toV a Vpinion |54,the two aremounted on a stub' shaft |55 on the frame', andthe pinion'is meshed witha gear |55 xed on the shaft ||2 so that the return of the shutters is in a fixed time relation with the advance of the racks. gear and the pinion is'such'that each movement of shaft ||2 to advance a rack to bring a new row of pins 54a belowthe shutters, turns the cam |52 suiiiciently (180 degrees-With the cam illustrated) to swing the cross bar Ido tothe left once and permit it to return toits initial position again, and the timing is such that the cross b'ar Idthus swings forwardand back during such an advance of the shaft |2.V

When arack has beenv filled withv cops, an

empty rack can be substituted for it on the racky carrier or support 5|. by hand. In the alterna-r tive a magazine of empty racks may be provided and the substitution made automatically asV sug gested above. In the present instance a magazine is provided v(seelligs. '7, 11 and l2 especially) by four uprights Hill fastened to or .forming parts of the frame 5@ and tied at their upperends by braces |5|. .This is of a size to easily `hold a number of the racks 513, one above,k

another. The .lowermost of these racks rests upon the top kor platform 5| of the frame 5G.

Atzthe four cornersof the frame four vertical levers |62 are provided, Vhinged at |53, andthe next rack of the magazine .above the lowest, ol"

the second raclrof the magazine, restson the upper ends of these'levers (Fig. 12). Each `of the empty racks abovecthe second rests on the pins of the rackfbelowit (Fig. 1l). .At each of the two sides of the; magazine, a horizontal bar VIG isv connectedtothe lower ends ofthe'two levers |52 of the respective side, toact as feelers, and each is providedwith a spring springs are illustrated), mounted on brackets vHita, which tend .to thrust the bars inwardly thereby rocking the levers |62-so as to move. their upper ends loutwardly and release the racks above. themf: However therbars |54 are so placed .that they engage any rack 513 resting on the .platform 5| between. them and therebyfare held outwardly to such an extent that the tops of the levers |62. supportwhatever racks there may beabove them, Fig. ll2. Also Y.the bars |64 extend so 'far above the top,or platform 5| of the frame 50, that a rack 54 falling from the topS, of the levers|62strikesl and passesbetween-the bars |643, and thusy spreads themapart and returns the .upper ends of the 'levers |62 to rackholding position, before thatrack whichis above the -rack falling-*onto .the-'top or platform 5| The ratio Abetween the f |65 (flat Td reaches Athe tops of the levers. Accordingly, when thev bottom rack 54 of the magazine is moved to the left on the top or platform 5| and thus taken from the magazine, the second rack or rack immediately above it, of the magazine, will fall to the top or platform 5|, but the rack immediately abovethis second rack will be caught and come to rest on the upper ends of the levers |52', and also will support all the racks 5LB there may be above it, Fig. l1. By locating the rack feelers |64 at, or extending them to, the outlet side ofthe magazine as illustrated in Fig. 11, the racks that are above'the bottom rack do notfall until this bottom rack has passed completely from the magazine.

A magazine from which the 'racks are deliverable by such sidewise movementis especially well adapted for the present purposes, because then the mechanism employed to advance a; rack row by grow at the receiving station can be used to bring up empty racks to replace filled racks also. -Thils as will be seen from Figs. 7 and 11, both the top or platform 5| on which each rack at the cop-receiving position rests, and the rack-advancing belt |20 with its ngers |24, may extend to below the magazine also. With such an arrangement the advancing of the belt |29 to advance a rack at the receiving station below the shutters 51 row by row, will advance the bottom rack of the lmagazine similarly and at the same time, and by making the bases 54 0f the racks, the lingers |24 and the spacings between adjacent fingers of such dimensions that the distance from the last row of pins 54a of Y arack atthe cop-receiving station to the first row of pins Saa of the rack that is advancing behind it,y equal to the distance between adjacent rows of pinsof the same rack, lempty racksl will be substituted for filled racks without interrupting the operations. .i

Speaking generally the chain or conveyor 22 with its cop containers 23 can be driven inter- ,mittently step by step providing the steps are such that, say, each container comes to rest underneath each chute |'3 0f the winding `heads y are of sufficient length to permit cops t0 pass from the chutes k|3 to the. containers 23, and from the containers 23 into the guideways between the kpartitions 56; ,-.v On the other hand; theconvevor or rchainfwith its cop containers or carriers can be driven continuously providing the speed 0f the conveyor is slow kenough to permit a cop to pass from a-jchute to afcontainer in passing,

and Yto pass from a container to a guideway between partitions .56 in passing. Also the conveyor-or chain 22 can be driven from any Source of power. Preferably however I drive the conveyor 22 continuously, and by the main power shaft I2 of the winder, and by connecting one end of the power shaft |2 to one of the-sprockets 22a which carry the conveyor or chain, interposing a speedreducing gear in the connection between the shaft |2 andthe sprocket 22a so .that the conveyor will move sufficientlyv slowly.

For the most part at least the Yoperation of the mechanism described will be understood from the foregoing; To recapitulate however: The winder heads operate, say, as heretofore, and from'time to time drop cops into their respective .chutes |3- andthereafter raise their respective levers Il with their heads Ila, all as heretofore.` The raising of a lever head Ila does Y not free the cop in its chute however, but leaves the cop still coniined in the chute by the related gate 3|. The raising of the lever I1 leaves this gate 3i held closed only by its linger 40 however, and also raises the arm 4| associated with this nger A into the path of extension pieces 26 of those cop feelers 24, the containers 23 of which do not contain cops. The movement of the conveyor or chain 22 moves cop containers or carriers 23 across the end of the chute of course. If the first carrier 23 to come to a chute I3, the lever I1 of which has been raised, has a cop within it, the extension piece 26 of its feeler 24 will be raised and will pass the associated arm 40 Without striking it, Fig. 6, and accordingly the gate 3| of the chute will be held closed. lThe same is true as other carriers 23 holding cops may come to the chute I3 that contains a cop. Ultimately however a carrier or containerk 23 without a cop within it will arrive at the chute I3 which has a cop, and its eXtension piece 26 will be in depressed position, and hence will strike the arm 4I associated with this chute I3, Fig. 5. As the carrier moves a little further piece 26, acting on the arm 4I, will turn the associated finger I6 away from the gate 3I, and thereupon the cop in that chute will slide into the carrier or container 23 at its end, Fig. 6. As the conveyor or chain 22 continues to advance it moves this carrier or container, now with a cop, away from this chute and ultimately to the delivery station at the shutters 51. Some time after the cop is discharged from the chute I3, and before the next cop is dropped into the same chute, the mechanism of the associated Winder drops the lever I1 again. This drops the carrier of the arm lil down again (cf. Figs. 5 and 3), so that L36 again is out of the path of feeler extension 26, Fig. 3, and also the head I1a of this lever, acting on the cam 3Ia of the associated .gate 3i, closes this gate again. Also the leaf spring 42, Fig. 4, swings the finger 46 back to gate-holding position. This restores the apparatus at this particular Winder head to its initial state of course, and the same action of delivering cops to carriers 23 takes place at each Winder head as cops are dropped into their chutes respectively.

It is evident therefore that one by one all lled cops are brought to the cop-delivering station or position at the shutters 51. Assume for the moment that all the (seven) shutters 51 are covering their guideways (position of iive shutters in Fig. '1) and that a wholly empty row of cop-carrying pins 54a stands below the guideways formed by the partitions 56. If Van empty carrier 23 now is passing the lever 11 at the approach to the shutters, nothing happens because its feeler nger or projecting part 21 stands too high to strike the lever 11, and the vsame is true for each container or carrier 23 that may come to this place Without a cop within it. However, as a carrier or container 23 having a cop within it arrives at this place, its feelerV finger or part 21, now depressed, strikes the lever 11 and, in moving along with the conveyor or chain 22, swings this'lever (to the right in Fig. '1, and to the left in Fig. 8) so as to turn the shaft 10 one step (one-eighth of a rotation since there are eight guideways in the present instance). This has no effect on the shutters since the last guideway (to the right in Fig. '1) has no shutter (although one may be provided for it, if desired). As the conveyor or chain 22 continues to move, this filled carrier passes along the shutters 51. lIt' now is held vertical, and the' shutters 51 have supplanted the rail 30 and shelf 62 in closing the bottom of the container'or carrier and preventing the cop from escaping from it. The cop passes over all seven shutters 51 therefore, but drops into the eighth or last guideway and onto the iirst pin of the row of cop pins 54a that is below the shutters. About as this container or carrier 23 arrived at this last guideway, or sometime later, another container or carrier 23 arrived at the lever 11. If this has no cop within it, nothing happened as before mentioned, and this carrier merely passes on over the shutters and back to the Winder heads. If however this nextrcontainer or carrier 23 has a cop within it, or whenever next a container or carrier 23 with a cop within it passes over the lever 11, its projecting feeler finger 21 rocks the lever 11 again, and thus turns the shaft 10 another step (45 degrees). This motion of the shaft 10, acting'on the catch 66, Fig. 11, of the rst shutter 51 to the right, Fig. '1, releases this shutter and allows its spring 60 to draw it tothe rear, thus opening the second guideway. i As the conveyor or chain 22 continues to move, it passes this lled carrier 23 over the shutters until it reaches this second guideway, and then its cop falls through this guideway to its pin 56a on the rack 54 below the shutters. In a similaimanner the third lled carrier 23 releases the second shutter and its cop drops to the third pin of the row, and so on until the eighth cop drops onto the last pin 54a of the row. As each carrier or container 23 looses its cop, it passes on to return to the Winder heads of course, along with the other empty carriers, as will be understood from Fig. 2.

As the last (or, here, eighth) cop of a row drops onto its pin as above described, it depresses the iinger I03 of the cop feeler I as before described, and this in turn causes the plunger E91 to act on the combined pin and sprocket wheel II3 to advance the belt I20 with its rack-engaging fingers |24 one step, and this advances the rack that is below the shutters a distance equal to the distance between two adjacent rows of the cop pins 54a, center to center, thereby substituting an empty row of pins for the newly filled row. The action also causes the simultaneous semi-rotation of the cam |52, thus restoring all the shutters 51 to their guideway-closed positions, and also frees the `cop feeler `Ii3 of the cop resting on it, and this brings the rackV advancing mechanism to rest until a cop is delivered to the last pin of the new row and when this happens the rack is advanced to bring a third row of pins to the cop-receiving position. The whole of this rack-advancing and shutter-restoring action occurs while the carrier which supplies the last cop of a row is passing from one side of the rack to the other. Also as the belt I20 advances the rack that is below the shutters 51 at the moment7 it also withdraws the bottom rack of the magazine, step by step, and as the filling of the last row of pins 54a of onerrack is completed, the rst row of pins of the new rack is brought to cop receiving position, and as the bottom rack of the magazine ultimately is removed from the magazine, its place is taken by the rack initially above it, all as before described. Filled racks pushed from the cop-receiving position may be taken from the platform 5I by hand, or mechanically as desired, as will be understood.

It follows therefore that each cop is delivered to its rack Wholly automatically, entirely Without engaging With another cop, and under such conditions that little damage to the filling is likely. Further, this operation may be a continuous one, even to the extent of substituting empty racks for lled racks.

It Will be understood that the invention is not v limited to the details of construction and operation described and illustrated except as appears hereafter in the claims, and the claims are intended to include not only the elements mentioned in them specifically, but the equivalents of those elements also.

I claim: 1. The combination with a cop Winder having a plurality of Winding heads, of an endless belt Winding heads, and to one end of the array, cop carriers on said conveyor toreceive cops rfrom said heads, a support at said end of the array of Winding heads for a cop-receiving rack, said conveyor crossing said support, at least one guide to guide copsvfrom said carriers to empty spaces Von i said rack, and a cop selector mechanism toselect cops individually directly from said carriers for empty spacesron said rack. Y

conveyor disposed to pass along the array of 2. The combination With a cop Winder having a plurality of Winding heads, of an endless belt conveyor disposed to pass along the array of Winding heads, and to one end of the array, cop

carriers on said conveyor' to receive cops from said heads, a support-at said end of the array of Winding heads for a cop-receiving rack,'said conveyor crossing said support and the Vdistance between said carriers on said conveyor and a copreceiving rack on said support being at least the llength of a cop, at least one guide to guide cops from said carriers of the conveyor to cop-re- Y ceiving spaces of a rack on said support, and a selector mechanism to direct cops to empty spaces on said rack.

3. The subject matter of claim 2, characterized by the fact that said selector mechanism includes movable shutters to prevent the escape of cops from carriers of the conveyor, at least at said guides, and a trip is provided to move shut- "ters to release cops from carriers to guides leading to empty cop-receiving spaces of a rack on the support.

4. The subject matter of claim 3, characterized by the fact that the said movable shutters are located at at least some of said guides to close the entrance ends thereof, the-bottoms of the cop y carriers are open, and stationary stops are prosupport, a row of guides extending crosswise of said support to direct cops from said carriers to Y cop-receiving spaces of a rackon said support, a cop feeler disposed adjacent said roW of guides to be engaged by cops passing to said row of guides, and mechanism, controlled by said feeler, to advance a rack on said support intermittently distances equal'to the distance between 'adjacent` rows of cop-receiving spaces, centre to centre, to bring empty rows of such spaces to said row of guides.

' 14 6. The combination of a multiple head Winder, a support for a cop-receiving rack, and a belttype conveyor to take cops from the various heads'A of thewinders and carry them to said support, said Yconveyor having individual carriers for the cops, characterized by the fact that there is provided a roW of shutters extending transversely or" the rack supportto confine cops in said carriers, a guide for each shutter on Which the shutters are independently movable from cop-conning position, a cop-feeler in each carrier, a trip operatable byf said cop-feelers to control the movements of the shutters individually from cop-confining positions, a shutter replacer to return the shutters as' a group tocop-conning position, and mechanism to advance a rack step by step to bring empty rows of cop-receiving spaces to the shutters and to actuate said shutter replacer substantially simultaneously.

7. The combination of a multiple head Winder yand a belt-type conveyor totake cops from the various heads of a Winder, said conveyor having individual carriers for the cops, characterized by the fact that a gate is ,provided for the outlet'port of each Winder head, each cop carrier is provided With a cop feeler, and a latch is provided to hold each gate closed, the operators for said latches being disposed adjacent the paths of said cop feelers for operation thereby. Y

A8. The combination of a multiple head Winder each of Which has a cop delivery port, and a belt v type conveyor to take cops from said delivery ports, the conveyor having individual carriers for the cops, characterized by the fact that a gate is provided for each of said outlet ports, a latch is providedA to hold each of said gates closed, and a cop feeler is provided ateach of said cop carriers to actuate said latches, said latches being so placed as to be out of the path of such of said feelers as are actuated by cops and Within the path of such of said feelers-as are not actuated' by cops, and are engageable by such latter feelers When the respective cop carriers are in cop-receiving positions at the delivery ports, thereby each latch being actuated to open its gate only When 'an empty cop carrier is in position to receive cops from the respective delivery port.

9. The combination of a multiple head Winder,

a support for a cop-receiving rack, a conveyor to take cops from the various heads and carry them to a rack on the support, and a magazine for empty racks, characterized by the fact that said rnagazine is arranged to contain racks resting one on another, said support extends underneath the magazine, latches are provided to support a rack in the magazine some distance above the support, at least one feeler is provided to feel a rack resting on the support to control the release of said latches and their return to latching racsholding position.

JAMES G. GAMBLE.

References Cited in the file of this patent Y UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date Re.18,310 Abbott 'Dec. 29, 1931 2,040,023 Reiners May 5, 1936 2,047,491 Reiners July 14, 1936 2,234,355 VReiners Mar. 11, 1941 2,247,718 Treckmann f July 1, 1941 2,501,106 Theiler Mar, 21, 1950 2,505,427 Peterson Apr. 25, 1950 2,543,931 Peterson Mar. 6, 1951 

